GREENFIELD — Two Greenfield Police employees — Deputy Chief William Gordon and Officer Zoe Smith — were sent to Florida to provide disaster relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Gordon was deployed as a reservist, or on-call employee, for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Smith was deployed as part of the Rhode Island 1 (RI-1) Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

According to the National Weather Service, Helene made landfall at 11:10 p.m. Thursday night about 10 miles west of Perry, Florida, as a Category 4 hurricane packing 140 mph winds. By Friday morning, the storm was centered 105 miles north of Atlanta, continuing north at roughly 32 miles per hour.

Greenfield Police Chief Todd Dodge, who announced the officers’ departure in a Facebook post Thursday evening, said Gordon was deployed to Florida for a separate mission about two weeks ago, and was recently transferred to assist with Helene.

Smith, who has served on the RI-1 team since 2003, wrote in an email that her team is responsible for setting up field hospitals, assessing situations, and establishing shelters equipped with medical supplies and support equipment. In her 22 years on the team, she has served as an EMT, a paramedic, a security officer and now as a deputy team commander.

Neither Smith nor Gordon are allowed to comment on their missions under their respective federal agencies’ rules.

“I’m overwhelmingly proud of them. Even though it’s not a Greenfield Police function, I’m no less proud that they’re serving,” Dodge said on Friday. “I spoke with the deputy chief yesterday and he said he has [Greenfield Police’s] patch mounted in his command post trailer ‘to remember where I come from.’ To me, that’s outstanding. Anyone who comes in or out of that vehicle knows he’s from the Greenfield Police Department and I’m beyond proud.”

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.